Homeowner Jerry Smith and Idaho Fish and Game conservation officer Ben Cadwallader watched a mule deer eat from the poisonous yew bush in Smith's back yard recently. They followed as the deer ran over a hill.
"And it was dead," Smith said. "They die that fast. It was not 10 minutes and that deer was dead. ... It was a frustrating situation for us because we've worked hard at trying to help the animals stay alive for all the years we've been there." Smith and his wife, Donna, have lived in the house east of Warm Springs Avenue in the Barber Valley for 46 years. They learned in January that the three yew bushes they planted in their front yard were poisonous after hearing about the deaths of seven elk that ingested the plant in a neighborhood near Table Rock. The Smiths covered those plants with shrink wrap and made plans to rip them out this spring.
But they didn't realize that the transplanted bush in their back yard was a yew, a plant with many varieties _ nearly all of them toxic to wildlife, people and dogs. Seven mule deer died after presumably eating from that bush, including two that collapsed in the Smiths' yard and led the couple to contact Fish and Game.
Smith and two neighbors immediately took a chainsaw to the bush and removed it. They removed the three in the front yard, too.
"I'll do anything I can to get the word out," Smith said. "It's a deadly plant and we should not have it _ we should not have it in the state of Idaho at all. ... It's devastating to come out and find dead deer around your house and think you did it."
